Soldier tracks down 'selfless' man who paid $900 to help her farewell dying dad

By Natalie Cornish| 2 years ago

Brittany Bunker and the stranger who helped her get home. Photo: Facebook

Receives thousands of thank you messages

A US soldier has been able to personally thank a stranger whose generosity ensured she made it home in time to say goodbye to her dying father, after tracking him down via a viral post.

Brittany Bunker from Ohio explained on Facebook she had been granted "emergency leave" two weeks ago to fly home from the base where she is stationed.

She said her father's health had taken "a nosedive" and he "wasn't expected to live more than a couple of days".

Bunker said she was scheduled to take four flights to "get home around midnight", but unfortunately her first flight was delayed, meaning she missed her connection.

As she boarded a rebooked flight with her service dog, Shiva, a man struck up a conversation showing her pictures of his dog.

He explained he was also a veteran, having served in the National Guard.

As the plane landed, Bunker received yet more bad news: her final flight had been cancelled.

She called her family in a panic and they offered to drive five hours to pick her up but she knew that wasn't an option.

When the flight attendants told her they could get her on another plane, but she would be delayed getting home, the stranger she had been chatting to stepped in.

"He told me he was arranging for a professional driving company to drive me from the airport straight to my house, all at his expense," she explained.

Brittany Bunker, the generous stranger and her dog Shiva (Facebook)

"I was apprehensive at first, but he showed the receipts to the flight attendants and when the driver arrived, he sent them a picture of the car, the license plate and the driver.

"Before I left, he said all he wanted in return was for me to let him know I made it home."

Bunker made it to the hospital at 3am, and was able to say goodbye to her dad before he passed away a day later.

"The driver told me that it cost the man almost $900," she wrote.

Bunker shared a photo of herself with the generous stranger at the airport in the hope of tracking him down.

The post went viral, with several people recognising the man and sending her his contact information.

She provided an update on Sunday, saying she had managed to make contact with him before explaining his "selfless" motive.

"He did this act of kindness out of Patriotism to service members around the globe," she wrote.

Bunker then thanked the 477,000 people who had liked her post for their support, before saying she had "removed his name from her post...after hundreds of THOUSANDS of 'Thank You' greetings have been received and sent to his work email, which is overwhelming the server".

"There really are good people in this world, and I will never be able to thank him enough for what he did. But I hope that one day I will be able to pay it forward to someone in need like it was done for me," she wrote.